Aruna Vasudev


Aruna Vasudev is an Indian critic, author, editor, painter, maker of documentaries and is considered an eminent scholar on Asian cinema. She has also been described as the mother of Asian Cinema.

Early life and education

Vasudev was born in 1936.
Vasudev's sister Uma Vasudev is also a writer-director.
Vasudev married Sunil Roy Chowdhary who was an Indian diplomat. She chose to retain her maiden name after marriage. She lost him to cancer.
In the early 1960s, she attended film classes in New York where her father was working and created a number of short documentaries after her return to India. She has a doctorate from the University of Paris on cinema and censorship. Her PhD thesis was published as a book titled “Liberty and Licence in the Indian Cinema” in 1979.

Career

Vasudev currently serves as Director of Osian's-Connoisseurs of Art Private Limited. She is also one of the Trustees of the Public Service Broadcasting Trust in India.
She started as a greenhorn helping in the makeup rooms of Doordarsan in 1960.
She launched Cinemaya in 1988 as a publication that showcases film-makers from Asia. In 1991, she founded the internationally renowned NETPAC as an organisation to forward the cause of Asian films.
Since 1990, she has been the president or jury member of international film festivals including Karlovy Vary, Locarno, Cannes, Las Palmas, Pusan Singapore, Fajr, and Antalya.

Awards

In 1997, Vasudev won the Korean Cinema Award at the Pusan International Film Festival.
In 2004, she was conferred the Italian Star of Solidarity medal.
In 2006, Vasudev got a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Cinemanila International Film Festival.
In 2015, Vasudev was honored with a Lifetime Achievement award at the 2nd edition of the International Film Festival of Colombo for her contributions towards putting Asian cinema on the international map. At the Hawaii International Film Festival the same year, Vasudev won a Vision in Film Award.
She was awarded the Star of Italian Solidarity and the Chevalier of Arts and Letters, the highest titles from two major film-producing countries, Italy and France.
The Tripoli Film Festival has named its prize for Best Writing on Cinema as the “Aruna Vasudev Award”.